1452 MARRIAGES. [ART. 62

evidence given in the cause shall be transmitted with the record to the
court of appeals and thereupon such cause shall be heard, determined
and adjudged de novo.

This section confines the authority to annul a marriage within the pro-
hibited degrees in Baltimore city, to the superior and criminal courts upon
application of one of the parties. A decree of nullity distinguished from
a decree of divorce. Ridgely v. Ridgely, 79 Md. 305. See also, Le Brun v.
Le Brun, 55 Md. 503.

1904, art. 62, sec. 15. 1888, art. 62, sec. 13. 1867, ch. 423.
15. All marriages made and celebrated in this State prior to March
22, 1867, by and between colored people are hereby confirmed and made
valid to every intent and purpose from the time of the celebration of
such marriages, respectively; and every such marriage shall be held and
taken by all courts of this State to be good and sufficient in law to all
intents and purposes; provided, that in every case the parties claiming
to have been married by a competent person shall by sufficient proof
before some justice of the peace, establish the fact of having been so
married, a certificate of which shall be filed with the clerk of the circuit
court for the county in which said marriage was celebrated, or the court
of common pleas of Baltimore city, and be preserved with the register
of marriage licenses in the office of the said clerk.

Where slaves ratified their marriage after they became free, their mar-
riage is valid. Jones v. Jones, 36 Md. 456.